Highlights are very popular with consumers today. Highlights involve bleaching select strands of hair to achieve a color that is different (usually lighter) than the color of the base hair shade. This in turn provides unique effects such as a sun kissed look on an individual with dark blonde hair, or possibly lighter brown streaks on a black haired individual.
In beauty salons, highlights are expensive. Generally the entire process takes from one to three hours. Typically strands of hair selected for highlighting are arranged on many small pieces of metal foil which are positioned throughout the hair based upon the judgment of the beautician. The strands on the foil are painted with the highlighting, or bleach, composition (a mixture of a persulfate composition and an oxidizing agent composition) for the appropriate period of time after which the foils are individually removed from the hair and it is rinsed well with water to remove all traces of the highlighting composition. The placement of the foil pieces is a very time consuming, labor intensive process that requires a certain judgment and skill, and when that is considered along with the time required for the actual bleaching operation, the entire process becomes quite lengthy and difficult.
Alternatively, plastic caps referred to as streaking caps may be used. These are plastic caps similar to bathing caps that have holes pierced throughout in a pattern determined by the manufacturer. The beautician pulls small strands of hair through the holes. The highlighting composition is applied to the select strands of hair for the desired period of time, generally about 30 to 60 minutes, then rinsed with water.
Thereafter, in both cases, the hair is washed with shampoo to remove the excess highlighting composition, or simply rinsed well with water. In some cases, a second process is performed which involves treating the entire head of hair with a mild oxidative hair color to reduce the brassiness, or fine tune the color, of the highlights. At the same time the non-bleached hairs are colored by the mild oxidative hair color as well. In prestige beauty salons, highlighting procedures can cost several hundred dollars or more.
It is also possible for consumers who do not wish to pay salon prices to use the at home kits that are available for purchase in drug and mass market stores. However, due to the level of skill involved in applying highlights, it is more difficult to obtain professional salon looking results when using at home kits. Typically these kits include a plastic cap pierced with holes in a predetermined pattern. The consumer pulls the hair through the holes with a device that looks somewhat like a crochet hook. The select hairs are then treated with the highlighting composition for a period of time ranging from 30 to 60 minutes. The hair is rinsed with water and shampooed. There are several problems with the at-home kits. First, the manufacturer determines the pattern of the holes in the cap, providing a one-size-fits all approach. Thus, the pattern tends to be very standard and not at all tailored to each individual consumer. Further, the process of putting on a plastic cap that feels and looks much like a bathing cap, and then pulling hair strands through the holes in the cap with a crochet-hook like instrument is very labor intensive. Combining the time required for that exercise with the time required for the bleach to act on the hair, results in a process that easily takes more than one to two hours. Another type of retail bleaching kit contains a small comb that the consumer manually uses to distribute the highlighting composition on the hair. These systems are messy, and the color application is often not uniform as there tends to be too much color at the hair roots and not enough at the ends.
There are many drawbacks to the current highlighting procedures whether conducted in the salon or at home. The actual bleaching process, which involves bleaching melanin or color from the hair fiber, provides inconsistent results. This is true whether the whole head is being bleached or only select strands (the latter being referred to as “highlighting”). Ideally, one would want to treat the hair with a composition containing bleach and hair dye to simultaneously bleach the melanin from the hair fibers, and color the hair fibers the desired color. However, because the ingredients used in the bleach (oxidizing agent and persulfate salts) are very reactive with oxidative hair dyes, when such ingredients come into contact they immediately react and the reactants are consumed before anything productive can be done with the mixture. In some cases, the hair is first bleached to remove melanin. Then a second procedure is commenced where the same hair strands that have been treated with bleach are oxidatively dyed. This is obviously a very cumbersome and time consuming procedure that is not easily implemented in either the salon setting or in at home kits, and it could cause hair damage in those who have chemically over-processed hair.
Accordingly, one of the biggest need gaps in the highlighting or bleaching process is to provide bleached or highlighted hair that is the desired color, not just whatever color is achieved when the melanin is bleached from hair fibers, in a simple but effective procedure that is amenable to salon or at home use.
Another significant problem with standard bleaching or highlighting procedures is that they are not effective on hair that has already been color treated. Thus, such procedures are not possible for the many consumers that have already colored their hair because it is very difficult to bleach hair that has been colored with oxidative dye.
Accordingly, there is a need for a process and compositions that provide a consumer friendly, speedy system for bleaching the entire head of hair or highlighting select strands which provides custom colored highlights with salon quality results. This system should be able to provide consistent results in lightening and coloring virgin hair as well as hair that has already been oxidatively colored. While the system can be used at home or in the salon, it is most desirable that the system be amenable for use in at-home kits by standard consumers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a method for bleaching or highlighting hair that provides custom color, meaning that the color is the one desired by the consumer and correlates to the color charts depicted on the package in which the product is sold.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for bleaching or highlighting hair that enables coloration in a reduced period of time.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for bleaching or highlighting hair that has already been treated with oxidative or semi-permanent dyes.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for bleaching or highlighting hair that provides consistent results on virgin hair as well as hair that has been treated with oxidative or semi-permanent dyes, or bleaches.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for bleaching or highlighting hair where the compositions can be applied to dry hair.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method for bleaching or highlighting hair that provides professional salon results in an at-home, consumer friendly process.
Another object of the invention is to provide a shampoo composition for treating hair comprising one or more primary intermediates and, if appropriate, couplers for the formation of oxidation dyes, but which is free of oxidizing agents which react with the intermediates and couplers, if present, to color the hair.